1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tubular water-cooled jacket for furnaces which is, for example, disposed around the burner in a metallurgical furnace.
2. Prior Art
In a metallurgical furnace equipped with a burner for maintaining the temperature of melt contained therein, the furnace wall portion, through which the burner is inserted, is susceptible to damage since this portion is exposed to extremely high temperatures due to the heat from the burner. For this reason, a tubular water-cooled jacket, in which cooling water is circulated, is interposed between the burner and the furnace wall to prevent the furnace wall from becoming superheated.
Conventional tubular water-cooled jackets of the type described above have been manufactured by shaping a metal pipe into a coil and casting metal therearound.
However, the conventional water-cooled jacket is of an intricate structure, and great care and effort are required to cast metal into a form such that the coiled pipe is situated in a proper position in the jacket, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs.
Furthermore, in the conventional tubular water-cooled jacket, the jacket is disposed around the metal pipe which defines a fluid passageway for cooling water, and hence the enlargement of the cross-section of the fluid passageway is limited due to the thickness of the pipe. Furthermore, inasmuch as the inlet and the outlet for cooling water must be formed at the same end of the jacket, the fluid passageway must be elongated in order to ensure the cooling of the entire jacket. However, with such a narrow and elongated fluid passageway, water circulating therethrough is easily heated by the burner while flowing therethrough, so that a sufficient cooling effect cannot be ensured.